Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Old theaters back in business in the US heartland. Why not Thailand?

Here's a little inspiration for all you movie theater enthusiasts out there: a New York Times article about the revival of main street movie theaters in the American mid-west. The following excerpt pretty much sums up my own views on the matter:

"To Tim Kennedy, a professor of landscape architecture who has traveled across the state [of North Dakota] to survey little theaters for a book, the communal will of rural towns that keep theaters going represents “buildings as social capital,” forged “outside the franchise cinemas and their ubiquitous presence at the malls....”

As anybody who's followed this blog knows, there are hundreds of old movie theaters across Thailand just sitting vacant, or being used in ways that pale in comparison to their original cinematic designs. Wouldn't it be nice to see some of them put back in commission?

Hi Nantawat,Generally I agree with you. Most people in Thailand are content to drive into the mall and pay the Poolworaluk's or the Thongrompho's an inflated price for 30 minutes of advertising before the film starts. In the NY Times article, however, the author points out that local people were getting sick and tired of that arrangement in America, which is why they reverted back to supporting the town theaters instead. I predict something similar for Thailand. The seedlings are already there. It will take some time before it starts to takes place.

And yes,this would the idealistic scenario (that I also once dreamed of) when customers start rejecting those monsterplex,and supporting standalone house that shows real respect to customers.

But as of I once had a chance to talk with Dao Kanong cinema (AKA BMC Multiplex) owner,he simply summed up that those thing seems very unlikely to to occur.Most people would spend their money on those monsterplex,or do the bittorent and completely quit their movie-going activities at all.Terrible,but that's the truth.